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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
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The ailing Valley View High School pool is temporarily closed. School board directors unanimously voted Wednesday to decommission the natatorium and preserve the area until funding becomes available
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Editor: Regarding my June 9 letter concerning the Taliban prisoner exchange, it is correct that most, but not all, of the 532 detainees at Guantanamo released by the Bush administration were considered low-risk.

One of the exceptions is Libyan Abu Sufian bin Qumu, a medium-to-high-risk detainee. Qumu is a rumored ringleader in the Benghazi attack. Several others have been confirmed as “returning to the battlefield.” The number is a subject of debate.

Pointing out that the low-risk detainees already have been released makes President Obama’s case stronger. Who’s left to trade?

Once more, the five were Taliban, not al-Qaida; POWs, not terrorists. Four of the five were mere government functionaries. Two were detained when they came forward to provide information on the location of Mullah Omar. None was charged.

If the United States honors its Geneva Convention obligations, we would have had to release them by the end of this year. At that time, we would not have gotten back an as-yet-uncharged Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Many Republicans urged the president to retrieve Bergdahl.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said that the U.S. “must make every effort to bring this captured soldier home to his family.” Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) said, “Bring him home, why aren’t you doing whatever is needed to bring him home? Sure, swap some prisoners, just bring him home.”

It’s a complicated and confusing world. News outlets that tell only half the story add to that confusion.

If President Obama found a cure for cancer, Fox News would report the story as “Obama increases unemployment among doctors.”

WAYNE WARNER

CLARKS GREEN

Race to judgment

Editor: While not wanting to get into a back-and-forth discussion with letter-writer Karen Bazzarri and her reaction to the problems of the coverage of Pocono Raceway’s trepidation over the IndyCar race on July 6, a few points need to be made.

It is possible the problem of low attendance at the race was initially raised by Pocono. Perhaps as a way of publicizing its plight, fan interest would be stoked and a walk-up sale would be influenced, which is apparently what happened.

To denigrate the news media for publicizing the situation when it could have been brought up by track officials is just wrong.

Second, I did not see any local media estimate of attendance. The Philadelphia Daily News estimated attendance at 15,000 to 20,000, which would be at least 20 percent below the 2013 estimate of 25,000 fans.

This came from an experienced Daily News motor sports writer, who has covered dozens of races at Pocono. The number is likely a composite from other media at the event.

Third, “thousands of fans filled the grandstands” seems unlikely.

It would take multiples of thousands of fans to fill those grandstands. Television coverage I saw showed the stands far from full.

And as anyone with familiarity of racing knows, fans in the infield also are a factor, especially the ones who arrive a few days early and spend some time before the race.

If indeed Pocono did initiate the worries over attendance, it all could have been avoided had the track just let the race happen.

JOE MIEGOC

CARBONDALE

Drill into science

Editor: Please fact-check letters published in The Times-Tribune.

Case in point is Jay Sweeney’s junk science July 10 letter regarding the article, “Born this way? Not for all area fish.”

The fact is that this is speculation. He had the audacity to turn a well-written article into mentioning gas drilling as a potential cause of the male-to-female mutation in bass.

This problem has existed at least since 2002 and was written about in a Potomac Valley Audubon study long before gas drilling occurred in the Susquehanna River basin and the study areas of the Ohio River basin, primarily in West Virginia.

The problem also exists in the Delaware River basin and was mentioned in a U.S. Geological Survey 2007 study and in other studies.

To blame drilling as the cause is ludicrous. Modern drilling techniques never have been implemented in the Delaware basin.

There are endocrine disruptors manufactured into almost every single plastic we have. Fertilizers and human waste are to blame as the studies conclude, not drilling. This is another attempt to demonize the industry, write fiction over science and garner support for an anti-property-rights agenda.

It’s clever on its face, but don’t get fooled. The electricity burned, ink used, and trees cut for your editorial pages probably have more of an effect on the environment than Mr. Sweeney’s hypothesis.

CURT COCCODRILLI

LAKE ARIEL

MEMBER, NORTHERN WAYNE PROPERTY OWNERS ALLIANCE

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